Work-integrated learning (WIL) is a risky business in higher education. The strategic opportunities that WIL presents for universities cannot be achieved without taking on unavoidable legal risks. University lawyers are involved with managing the legal risks as part of their internal delivery of legal services to universities. It is important to…

Change initiatives in higher education are frequently guided by an institutional change management program which provides employees with a framework and set of skills to better understand problems and facilitate change at the organisational level. In this paper, we explore employee perceptions of Six Sigma as a tool for facilitating change at one…

In order to operate effectively and efficiently, most higher education institutions depend on employees performing extra-role behaviours and being committed to staying with the organisation. This study assesses the extent to which organisational identification and employee satisfaction are antecedents of these two important behaviours. Key…

The aim of this study was firstly to describe the experiences of international students living and studying in a UK university, to understand and explain their responses to those experiences and to make recommendations to stakeholders in the light of the findings. The research found that international students' two biggest concerns are their…

As part of a larger study, professional staff from two universities, Australian and British, were asked how they entered into a higher education career and what factors kept them in that career. Many participants reported that they found themselves in professional services almost by accident, or by a fortunate combination of circumstances.…

Descriptors: Career Choice, Career Development, Professional Services, College Faculty

By comparing two distinct settings--Portugal and Finland--and based on previous studies revealing similar trends in both countries, this article analyses the relationship between institutional and academic autonomy in the higher education sector. Based on crosschecking of the literature review and 47 interviews with key actors in both the…

In step with the worldwide trend for higher educational institutes to establish areas of research emphasis,the accumulation of resources in key areas has become common practice in veterinary faculties. Although there are perceived logical benefits to research prioritisation, there have been very little critical retrospective analyses of research…

Service transformation is an increasingly common pursuit in the higher education sector, with university strategic plans frequently featuring a "service excellence" objective and the adoption of leaner and more sustainable service models. Previous studies agree that service excellence is intentional not incidental, and systematic not…

Student attrition remains a persistent problem within the Australian higher education sector. Contributing factors include financial, reputational and quality issues, which can pose significant risks for a university's sustainability. Institutional culture is fundamental to decisions student make about withdrawing or remaining in higher education.…

Many Australian universities have prioritised improving discipline performance on the national research assessment--Excellence for Research in Australia. However, a "culture of secrecy" pervades "Excellence in Research for Australia" (ERA). There are no specified criteria for the assignment of ratings on a 5-point scale ranging…

Australian universities are operating in a complex, dynamic and competitive global market. Increasingly university administrations are seeking the competitive edge over rival institutions. In order to support their institution's strategic agenda and maintain their relevance to their institution, libraries will need staff who are highly skilled and…

The need to understand how prospective students decide which higher education institution to attend is becoming of paramount importance as the policy context for higher education moves towards market-based systems in many countries. This paper provides a novel methodology by which student preferences between institutions can be assessed, using the…

Outsourcing or privatising services in higher education is a common practice, but what do we really know about it? Is outsourcing effective? It is imperative that these questions be addressed since outsourcing is becoming a norm in higher education institutions. Scholars, institutional administrators and policymakers need to understand the…

How do academics make sense of university policies and strategic initiatives and act on them? Interviews were conducted with 27 mid-career academics in different disciplines, different research-intensive university environments and two countries (England and Australia). Data were analysed iteratively utilising a critical realist perspective,…

This paper explores student mobility among Irish higher education students. It specifically focuses on the profile of "stayers", that is, students who have no plans to study abroad, thus addressing an underexplored topic in existing literature on student mobility. The article aims to identify factors that impact on students' decisions…